Fire-beating attachment for hulling and grinding apparatus.



G. G. BARKER. FIRE BEATING ATTACHMENT FOR HULLING AND GRINDINGAPPARATUS.

' Patented July 15, 1913.

Z SHBETS'SHEET 1.

' G. G. BARKER. FIRE BEATING ATTACHMENT FOR HULLING AND GRINDINGAPPARATUS.

APPLICATION YILBD- JUNE 11, 1912. 1,067,297. Pa ented July 15, 1913.

2 SHEETS-$31311? 2.

v COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0.. WASHINGTON, u. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE G. BARKER, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE BAUER BROTHERSCOMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 15, 1913.

Application filed June 11, 1912. Serial No. 702,965.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnomes G. BARKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Springfield, in the county of Clark and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Beating Attachmentsfor Hulling and Grinding Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in machinery for treating cottonseed hulls and particularly relates to an attachment for ex tinguishingany smoldering fire that may occur within the hulls.

The various methods employed in treating cotton seed hulls necessarilycause some reduction of the hulls and thereby making possible a spark,causing the hulls to get afire. One general method employed in treatingcotton seed hulls is illustrated in the drawings and known as aregrinding process and as explanatory of this process it should bestated. that cotton seed hulls are reduced by initially passing throughhulling mechanism and thereby crushed or cracked and then afterwardsubjected to a separating process whereby the meats are removed from thehulls and the hulls subsequently subjected to a grinding operation. Inthis method danger has heretofore existed from the fact that during boththe hulling and grinding operation a spark may be generated sufficientto cause the hulls to catch fire and thisis not readily detected untilafter serious loss is incurred by conflagration.

One main feature of this invention is to add an appliance which will beadapted to extinguish any fire that may be smoldering in the hulls andit is very important that the arrangements of the various devlces shouldbe such that this extinguishing device will be so located that it willfollow the last hulling or grinding operation and throughout thisapplication when the term reducing operation is used, it is meant eitherthe grinding of the hulls or the further hulling of the seeds.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of themachinery showing the extinguishing device preferably located at theextreme left side thereof. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view onthe line 2-2 of Fig. 8. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line33 of Fig. 2.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in the several views.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates the hulling apparatus which ispreferably used in the particular method of treating the cotton seedhulls illustrated in this application, which is adapted to crush thecotton seed hulls. The separator is indicated by 2, and 3 indicates anelevator extending from the separator adapted to convey the hulls to thebeater 4.

5 indicates the elevator extending from the beater a to the grinder 6while 7 indicates the separator located in sequence with the grinder 6and 8 indicates the elevator adapted to carry hulls to the beater 9. Theextinguisher for the fire is indicated by 10 and is preferably shown tofollow the heater 9, though it is evident that it need not be located atthat particular place, but it is important that it be located to followthe last grinding or hulling operation in any of the usual methodsemployed for treating cotton seed hulls. This extinguisher (see Fig. 2)comprises a casing 11 and preferably a cylindrical screen located withinthe casing marked 12. This screen is formed with a mesh preferablycoarse enough to allow the ground hulls to pass therethrough, and it hasbeen found that it may be a size, though some other sizes may be used toadvantage, provided the mesh is large enough to permit the material tobe forced entirely through same. WVithin this cylindrical screen 12 islocated the beater shaft- 13 and whipper arms 14: are secured to saidshaft so that they are rapidly rotated within'the screen 12. The powernecessary to operate the shaft 13 may be applied to a pulley 15 and thearms 14 are so arranged that they will cooperate with the cylindricalscreen 12 to force the ground hulls through the mesh of the screen andfor that purpose there is shown the inlet 16 (see Fig. 2) within whichthe ground hulls are adapted to be fed to said fire extinguisher and thespout 16 (see Fig. 1) is part of the vertical elevator 17 so arrangedthat the hulls after the last grinding or hulling operation will beconveyed to the fire extinguisher where the mass of hulls will be forcedthrough the screen of the fire extinguisher and thereby eliminate anypos sibility of smoldering fire within the hulls. After the material hasbeen ejected from the extinguisher by being forced through the mesh ofthe screen the arrangement is such that the material will fall into theextended conveyer 19 which is adapted to carry the finished hulls to thehull house preferably located at some distance from the machine. It istherefore apparent that the main feature of this invention resides inthe fact that after the hulls have been subjected to a hulling orgrinding operation the mass of material is substantially all forcedthrough a screen in the manner previously described.

A main feature of this invention is in combining a particular type offire extinguishing device that is adapted to cooperate properly with thebalance of the machine, in that the fire extinguishing device does notin any way injure or impair the quality of the article and permits thegrinding or hull ing mechanism to operate to greater advantage withoutdanger of fire. Furthermore the hulling or grinding operation is set toput the article in proper condition for passage through the screen 12 ofthe fire extinguishing device.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as follows:

1. In a machine for treating cotton seed hulls, the combination, withmechanism for reducing the cotton seed hulls by hulling or grindingsame, mechanism for separating the meats from the hulls, of a fireextinguishing device, and means for conveying the reduced hulls from thereducing and separating devices to said fire extinguishing device, saidfire extinguishing device comprising a screen together with means forforcing the reduced hulls through said screen without furtherseparation.

2. In a machine for separating cotton seed hulls, the combination ofdevices for treating the cotton seed hulls to extract the meats from thehulls, including .a reducing device operating thereon whereby thecottonseed hulls are either ground or hulled, separating devices forseparating the hulls from the meats, a completely inclosed fireextinguishing device, means for conveyingthe separated and reduced hullsto said extinguishing device, the latter element comprising a screenhaving a mesh of sufiicient size to operate upon said hulls after samehave been reduced and means for forcing the reduced hulls entirelythrough said screen without substantially any further reduction thereofand without further separation, while maintainingthe hulls insubstantially the condition received by the fire extinguishing device,substantially as specified.

3. In a machine for treating cotton seed hulls, the combination ofmechanism for reducing the cotton seed hulls by hulling or grindingsame, a fire extinguisher device, means for connecting the fireextinguishing device to the reducing mechanism, a screen comprising apart of said fire extinguishing device having a mesh of such size thatthe reduced hulls can be forced through same, a casing for theextinguishing device, an inlet on one side of said screen and an outleton the opposite side thereof, and means for forcing all the reducedhulls throughsaid ECIEEII to said outlet for the purpose speci- Intestimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 29th day of May1912.

GEORGE Gr. BARKER.

Witnesses CHAS. I. WELGH, ESTHER E. PFEIFER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of fatents,

Washington, D. C. i

